Chapter 11: The Iron-Masked Man Who Survived to This Day

Chapter 11: The Iron-Faced Scholar Who Survived to This Day

However, since he had chosen this path, he must have anticipated this day would come sooner or later. Life and death are fated; wealth and honor are in the hands of heaven. Who could guarantee absolute safety in a place like this?

Wu Yu sighed, thinking that after the system had tweaked and modified these mechanisms, they were, in truth, devilishly easy to trigger. If one were not careful, even he might fall victim to them. Fortunately, the wooden spikes were positioned above the boulders, leaving some distance from the ground, so everyone except Da Kui was unscathed.

"Fatty, you really ought to lose some weight! If we run into another trap, you might not be so lucky," Wu Yu teased. The guy always dug his access holes a size larger than everyone else’s, which was such a waste of effort.

"Hmph... you guys just don't have the taste to appreciate Fatty's beauty!" Fatty grunted. Asking him to lose weight was truly a tall order.

"Open the box," Third Uncle said, handing the box to the Silent One.

"Hmm." The Silent One nodded, but the contents inside made him slightly surprised. However, as he was naturally stoic, no one could detect any change in his expression.

"What is this? A treasure map?" Fatty asked in surprise.

"It’s silk scrolls?" Wu Tianzhen opened them and couldn't help but say, "Could it be that King Lu Shang’s funerary goods are just this?"

"Nephew, try to decipher it and see," Wu Sanshu prompted. He had already taken the snake-browed copper fish, so naturally, only these remained.

"Right, don't rush me. I can probably only decipher a little bit here!" Tianzhen nodded excitedly, looking very serious as if he finally had a chance to show off his expertise.

The others began to tidy up and started eating and drinking to replenish their energy. Wu Yu, meanwhile, had nothing to do. The content of the silk scrolls was nothing special—mostly just the life story of King Lu Shang himself; they couldn't exactly be called treasures. Moreover, the true mastermind was the Iron-Faced Scholar, who had usurped the nest.

Watching Wu Tianzhen’s enthusiasm, Wu Yu didn't want to disturb him, but he didn't want to wait around like this either. Furthermore, he could sense that the Nine-Headed Snake Cypress, which had remained inconspicuous until now, was getting restless. Its vast and complex root system was moving underground, not only awakening all the corpse beetles in the ancient tomb but also stirring up the blood corpses and the Corpse Beetle King. Guided by the tree, they were already heading toward their location. Therefore, finishing off the Iron-Faced Scholar was the best course of action.

With this in mind, and while no one was paying attention, he nudged his toe against the ground, directly triggering the mechanism beneath the Nine-Headed Snake Cypress.

A sound of iron chains echoed, and the hidden space beneath the tree was revealed. This sight drew everyone's attention, and they hurried over to investigate.

"Who... who is this?" Tianzhen asked in disbelief. "Hidden so well—if this is the true owner of the tomb, then who are the man and woman on the stone platform?"

"If you had finished translating, would we need to guess?" Third Uncle shot Tianzhen a look of annoyance, but he didn't hesitate. "Open the coffin!"

After all, they were here to get rich. Now that the real owner had appeared, there was no reason to hesitate. Regardless, the coffin had to be opened. Since Da Kui was injured, the task of opening the coffin fell to Pan Zi and Fatty, which led Fatty to start clamoring for extra pay.

However, once the outer layer was opened and the massive, solid jade coffin lid was revealed, he didn't say another word.

"Treasure! A great treasure! My Panjiayuan shop finally has a centerpiece!" Fatty was so excited he nearly kissed it.

"Pfft! You’re something else, Fatty!" Pan Zi said, looking at him strangely. "Who uses a coffin as a shop centerpiece? Even if it is made of jade, it’s still a coffin!"

"Go, go, go, what do you know!" Fatty waved him off impatiently, refusing to engage. "Step aside, step aside, and let me show you my craftsmanship!"

Rolling up his sleeves, Fatty wore an uncharacteristically serious expression. His chubby, fleshy hands glided over the jade coffin as if he were playing the piano. The next second, having triggered some hidden switch, the outer shell fell away, and the jade coffin slowly creaked open. Inside, a lifting mechanism revealed a figure clad in a jade burial suit.

"This must be the real King Lu Shang, given the specifications!" Wu Tianzhen said, looking at Third Uncle and the Silent One.

"If that's the case, didn't that General Green-Eyed Fox outside get cuckolded by King Lu Shang?" Fatty grinned, clearly enjoying the gossip.

"This thing is alive!" Wu Yu, seeing that the others were still in the mood for jokes, couldn't help but warn them. "Look closely—it's still breathing!"

As soon as he spoke, every smile froze on their faces. For a moment, the entire chamber fell into silence. Sure enough, a faint, rhythmic sound came from within the jade suit, and although the breathing was shallow, one could clearly see the thing was indeed drawing breath! In other words, it was truly alive.

"Hiss!" Third Uncle gasped. "Could this jade suit be that legendary treasure?"

"Good heavens, that’s the one even the First Emperor searched his whole life for but never found!" Third Uncle exclaimed.

"Gulp!" Fatty swallowed hard. With Third Uncle's hint, he immediately realized what it was. "The legendary treasure that grants eternal life—wear it, and you will live forever!"

"Could it be real?"

No one could answer Fatty's question, but the scene before them seemed to provide its own answer.

*Thump!*

Just then, the figure in the jade suit suddenly sat up. It wasn't just the mechanism behind it lifting it up; Wu Yu could sense that the consciousness within the suit was truly waking up. The rapid breathing was filled with rage, as if it were blaming them for interrupting its immortality and waking it prematurely.

However, at that very moment, the Silent One leaped up and landed directly behind it, snapping its neck without a word. The anger and hatred on his face were palpable to everyone present.

"Silent One..." For a moment, no one knew what to say. From the moment they entered, everything the Silent One had done was witnessed by all. Thus, he was absolutely trustworthy; if he had done this, he must have had his reasons. But the Silent One was not one for words, so he offered no explanation.

"Hahaha, it's better that it's dead! In that case, let's take the jade suit out!" Fatty didn't care about the rest; as long as he could make money, that was enough. In this line of work, whose hands weren't stained with blood? Besides, it was just a corpse.

"This treasure is priceless; it's worth at least a billion!" Third Uncle also stared with gleaming eyes at the item that had only existed in legends.

"No!" the Silent One suddenly spoke, shattering their illusions. "Once the jade suit is opened, the corpse inside will immediately reanimate. It will be infinitely more terrifying than the Blood Corpse King we encountered outside!"

Recalling the horror of the Blood Corpse King, everyone fell silent and then turned to look at Wu Yu.

"Heh, don't look at me. I can protect myself," Wu Yu grinned. Since the Iron-Faced Scholar was done for, that was for the best. As for the rest, it was better not to stir up trouble. Besides, leaving the jade suit here was fine; it would end up in the Eleventh Warehouse sooner or later, and by then, wouldn't it be his anyway? As for the problem of the Iron-Faced Scholar reanimating, he joked to himself that the Eleventh Warehouse was the place that feared such things the least, so Wu Yu felt completely at ease.